Anarchy
by holmesfreak1412
Summary: Of years in the shinobi world. They are just children after all. In which Uchiha Sasuke does what his nii-san could never hope to do. And Hyuuga Hinata accepts what, in another lifetime; she wouldn't have a chance to [Hyuuga Massacre-AU]
1. The strong one

**Title:** Anarchy

**Author**: holmesfreak1412

**Fandom:** Naruto- Slight Alternate Universe

**Pairing:** Uchiha Sasuke & Hyuuga Hinata

**Genre:** Drama, Romance

**Rating:** T

**Language: **English

**Summary**: Of years in the shinobi world. They are just children after all. In which Uchiha Sasuke does what his nii-san could never hope to do. And Hyuuga Hinata accepts what, in another lifetime; she wouldn't have a chance to [Nonmassacre-AU]

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise.

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**Anarchy**

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**Part One**

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The strong one doesn't win, they say, but it is paradoxically true nevertheless as in fact at a more shrewd contemplation, the one who wins in fact is strong. Drilled mentality since forever, strength should not be merely a predetermined destiny set to predict the outcome of a battle yet to begin. The Uchiha clan, wielder as they are of a superior birthright, should know this better than most— as their prided Sharingan leaves them sightless most of the time as their advantage wears on in battle. And yet, with their inherent complacence and a forgotten history of their own almost-extinction, they place themselves on a pedestal, believing themselves invincible and placing those they deem with merit as purely their tools. Itachi is their prodigy— because yes, he was born that. And merely hardworking Sasuke is but second best— just because he still has to work his sweat to be nearly as good. They never let the brothers spar— the latter is too young in any case— but they pronounce without a doubt and much thought the victor already. They don't take into account the things the future holds— that he might be able to kill him in a death match if needed!—, only the fact that at eight. Uchiha Itachi has activated the Sharingan and Sasuke is yet to show any genius from his part. The Uchiha values strength. But the glaring truth is that, in reality they don't see it for what it is.

Uchiha Itachi: ANBU Captain at thirteen, sharingan extraordinaire, revered genius of the clan. The supposed embodiment of what strength and power is. And yet as he doggedly follows orders from those above him, he likewise labels himself a killer and acts like one. Uchiha Itachi. The name is already synonymous to Death itself. Who at eight killed his first man. Who at thirteen kills more at a daily basis. Itachi, who never lost sleep over this. Itachi, who is a shinobi first of all. Ironically enough, these otherwise admirable traits for the mainstream are what that makes strong, prodigy, ANBU captain Uchiha Itachi-oniisan all the weaker in Sasuke's eyes.

When that morning, he fails to poke Sasuke between the eyes like he used to when the (intentional) whines get too far, the little, disgruntled but unerringly observant otouto realizes that his beloved oniisan, with those dark pool of empty eyes and a scarred, stressed countenance, might just be gone for good.

Itachi is fourteen. Sasuke is seven.

They practically are just children.

But then again between them lies, the line of superiority where the strong and the weak are forced to coexist and compete. In this, as the merely talented, unaccelerated Academy student who couldn't even wield the Sharingan just yet, Uchiha Sasuke is deemed to have not a hope of ever surpassing his big brother. In their eyes, Itachi is and will always be the strong one, the future of this accursed shinobi world. To Sasuke's unparalled insight, he is certain that with all their coveted visual prowess, they must be blind.

Sasuke is strong too, he is certain. Just in the most unexpected way Itachi could never hope to be. And so, the younger Uchiha finds himself in a very headstrong resolve.

Enter Hyuuga Hinata from the Academy who unknowingly becomes more than just an odd, taciturn, white-eyed she-freak from his class when she bumps into him while in town, looking distraught and in tears. Her pale, thin arms are marred with what his sharp eye recognizes as training bruises, knees trembling as she begs apology and her eyes glazed with a look he knows he used to sport when shrouded in his inferiority complex, he didn't know any better just yet.

He knows that look well.

She stares up at him and there is undisguised fear in the way she regards him with her big, doe-like eyes. She is just a child too and yet without a care to the deplorable wince of pain she futilely tries to hide, they still make her bleed.

He heard once that the Hyuuga is a family of all-seeing, white-eyed bastards.

But like the Uchiha Clan, they might just as well be blind too. With her slight frame and rather timid demeanor, can't they see that this girl is just…

_Pathetic_, he huffs with forced disdain. Not for her though. After all, who is she but merely a misunderstood child just like him? Judging her wouldn't make him any better than those who he criticize after all. _And you tell me you are training to be a kunoichi? Tch. Maybe you should just reconsider another career. You are too… _

Her sobs come back with a vengeance but with such sufficient stifling that Sasuke is inclined to wonder whether she has already prepared herself of this. Perhaps, this kind of demeaning is no longer old news for her and although it doesn't get any easier than the first disappointing heartbreak, those choked expression of her grief is her way to cope. This reduction of her as the stuttering…. pathetic (limited kid vocabulary can only provide as much) mess before him irks him. And yet he finds himself understanding. She is just like him but so different at the same time. For the first time in his life, Sasuke feels like finally there is someone who can understand his pain.

_Tomorrow is shuriken practice, _he reminds her tad too civilly nevertheless because he is an Uchiha and he should be all business. _Just be good and prove yourself. With your ocular advantage, surely you can manage eh? _

Because as far as he can tell with them being classmates, Hyuuga Hinata is more capable than they dare give her credit for.

She looks up at him in surprise.

_You're good, _he reassures her shortly and walks away.

And she is.

The next day, she hits every target right on the mark. Their classmates gasp. The onlookers applaud. Iruka fervently nods his head approvingly.

But her exhilarated expression tells the contrary of her achievement. Sasuke can easily tell why. Her movements, while precise and the textbook example of perfect marksmanship, is too calculated and lacked the fluid grace a real shinobi is defined as. Each shot has dependently bordered on minute calculation, a luxury one may not have during a battle of reflexes. An apprehensive glance is cast towards him… HIM! And as pale, almost-lavender eyes hold his obsidian ones, Sasuke knows. Yes. He knows.

Coming in second to him in today's activity will not spare her pretty face from the beating he knows she inevitably receives when she fails to be good enough— which is the best.

Maybe she also has a genius, older brother as well?

He deliberately misses all the targets during his laughably, most anticipated turn. One of them even straying as far as to graze Iruka's ponytail. This time the collective gasps is more audible. The dobe laughs. Iruka looks confusedly dazed, his eyebrows twitching.

Hinata's eyes are wide with a mixed expression of relief and shock. The temerity of this girl… manipulating him with that puppy-dog look to do what she wished him to. Uncanny. Surprisingly enough, he finds himself not minding.

When the next day he sees her glowing more than usual (prettier too but he shall never admit that), he has the growing inkling that he did save her.

And that is when he came into an epiphany.

Itachi was eight when he killed his first man.

But Sasuke is seven when he first saved a life.

From her seat at the corner, Hinata smiles. Sasuke… smiles back,

(TBC)

AN: Written after re-watching Naruto Season Three after seven years, I have started to wonder (like most) what it would be like if the Uchiha were not slaughtered because face it… I don't think it will be entirely unicorns and rainbows. Sasuke is insecure of Itachi, a fact that the latter acknowledged himself so I am taking liberty of expanding it and including in the mix my current favorite couple, SasuHina! Be warned though that I am incorporating some of the most overused plot device in the next chapters, namely the Hyuuga Massacre wherein I assure you that the plot thickens enough you can see it. This focuses however more in Sasuke's growing feelings about Hinata and why even with their roles reversed, they are perfect for each other. Too introspective it could be a little too much though.

As merely an aspiring writer with sub-par skills, I apologize for mistakes. This is UNBETAED.

This will have six chapters.

Please review.


	2. To this day

**Author's Note: I would like to express my gratitude to those who reviewed and read the preview, seeing that the general response seems to be positive enough for me to be motivated. However, while at this, I'd like to address the point that the characters depicted here have/will have ALTERED backstory so I am just incorporating through my own opinions and interpretations of the essence of their character— namely, what they would have done in this and that situation. I am not saying I did succeed but I'll try. That's the sense of writing fanfiction without fear of having your identity discovered right? It's a free world after all. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise. **

**…**

**Anarchy**

**..**

**Part Two**

**..**

To this day, Sasuke is not sure how it came to this. After all, being more or less friends with the Hyuuga girl is not something that one can easily anticipate however much foresight he claims to have. Not yet counting the fact that they are in fact, royal members of two of the most illustrious clans in Konoha notorious on their not-so-friendly rivalry, their status as the clichéd popular guy and the wallflower should have been reason enough to dismiss this kind of notion. And yet in between the rather disastrous shuriken jutsu training (where his father is harsher than ever to his status as Itachi's younger brother) and today's chakra control exercises, there was she, smiling at him and to his horror, he did find himself not minding.

Theirs is an unusual relationship. Over the past two years, they never had the chance to talk again. She goes home early, He trains till it is late. But during class, they exchange glances frequently enough. An encouraging smirk thrown to her when she's doubting, a smile of acknowledgement when she succeeds and a glare when she resists. These simple gestures seems to be sufficient enough to kindle to their little understanding. As if in exchange, she becomes someone not enamored with him due to his superficial charms and as she stares at him with somewhat restrained amusement during those moments he finds himself detesting the female species, he can only feel relieved.

If he has to classify this, he has to say it has to be somewhere between Choji and Shikamaru's companionship and Kiba and Shino's invariable tendency to sit together. As different as light and day but finding more similarities than anywhere else. Sasuke does revel at the fact that in essence, they are so different at first impressions but in reality are birds of the same feather at the same time. Introspectively, he hates that fact sometimes too. Although, if anything has to be said, he does envy her uncanny ability to just be "invisible".

Even if in the end, seeing is a sign that they care.

They don't. That is the problem. Sasuke prides himself that he saw her when no one else did. In realization, it hits him that he used to be as invisible to her before that incident. She really stares a lot at the dobe. And while Sasuke kind of understands the adoration (seeing that such an emotionally traumatized girl can only take enough demeaning, she must have recognized another one in a similar situation as her and whose resolve she can use as an inspiration)… Sasuke doesn't deny that it bothers him.

Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't believe her apparent infatuation with Naruto to be as shallow as those that his fangirls shamelessly proclaim to him.

And contrary to popular Uchiha belief, nine-year-old Sasuke's eyes are sharper than Itachi's sharingan-enhanced one could ever hope to be. And he can see it well.

Sad thing… (or maybe he is pretty much relieved with that fact)… the dobe himself is as much as an airhead as those screaming banshees. He is blind too. Can't he see that…?

Sasuke takes consolation only to the fact that he isn't. Blind to it. Although he has to reevaluate a little of that after finding out just recently that whenever he gets to the top of the class, Hinata does toss him a warm smile of congratulations from afar, as if she knows he can see it. As if she knows she is the only girl he can ever see.

Tunnel vision. The girl does manipulate him to a degree.

But most of the time, Sasuke does wonder what it would have been like have they not been shinobi-on-the-works. Hinata, with her frail body and overall reluctance, certainly is not meant to be one. Just like Itachi didn't use to be the cold fish he is today. These are the moments when he understands why people say that the world as they know it is pretty much rotten. Who makes children kill at eight? Who beats a young girl to a pulp just to see if she is "good enough"?

Stupid shinobi world.

And the dobe wants to lead such nation?

Stupid dobe.

And yet… Hinata doesn't think so.

"Naruto-kun means well." are her first words to him after pretty much two years of only eye communication. Quite fitting, since they are supposed to be dojutsu users. He stares at her, slightly offended but partly surprised upon hearing her voice laced with such conviction. Meanwhile, he busies himself at nursing his slightly injured arm after that scuffle with the dobe earlier in school where he ends up here, by the stream with Hinata, surprisingly enough trailing close behind for the first time. He doesn't look at her. Stupid dobe in his malnourish frame could pack quite a punch. Wincing, Sasuke can at least give him that.

"You followed me." He remarks, trying to with much apathy but only ending smugger in his tone. "You followed me instead of him."

She pauses in her fidgeting. As if realizing this too.

They never talked since two years ago. This couldn't have been more awkward.

"I g-guess.." She pokes her pointer fingers together, avoiding his eyes. Quite a quirk. But to him, it is more distracting than cute. "I guess because I can talk better to Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn." To say he is surprised is an understatement since to his knowledge; he never gave her a reason to come into that assumption. The sound of his name leaving her lips casually is proof enough however. And he wonders whether with this ongoing uneasiness around the dobe, there will ever be a future with them to behold together.

Strangely enough, he takes comfort that statistically, there shall be none.

"I-I just d-don't understand why you h-hate N-Naruto-kun so much." She struggles but manages to get it out. Sasuke stares at her, a bit abashed to hear her name his obvious dislike with Uzumaki Naruto as something so intense.

Hate.

People say such emotion is just as strong as love and with the thin line dividing them, it is not so hard to turn one into another than it is for the indifferent to notice the ignored.

Fugaku has never paid attention to him.

Sometimes, dark thoughts lead him to conclude that being hated by the villagers for some undisclosed reason is so much better.

He decides he shall answer truthfully. "He reminds me of me."

Of he could have been at least. Or more accurately of whom he wanted to be. Naruto is the embodiment of infallible determination to be acknowledged. To turn the hate into love. Something Sasuke has always dreamed of doing in this chaotic world. And even though how stupid Naruto in fact is, Sasuke can perfectly see what Hinata saw in him. Naruto, in more ways than one, is someone who he wants to be.

He trusts Hinata to see through that. She isn't blind.

"And you hate him for it?" she questions quietly.

"The same way as you like him for it, eh?"

She looks up, startled.

"You remind me of me too." He continues, shrugging as if nonchalant with the confession. It is something that has always bugged him too. The fact… that she is someone he didn't want to be on the other hand. "And I don't want to be like you. You are pretty weak. Crying your troubles. Giving up before trying. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be like that at all."

"And d-do you hate me for it?"

"No." he replies. Because it's true. He doesn't. Hinata is but a misunderstood child. "I hate myself."

Silence.

From afar, a crow croons.

Before she finally looks up to completely face him as if like before, she is reading his eyes. "If it's any consolation to you Sasuke-kun…" she murmurs, smiling wistfully. "I hate myself too."

He stares at her, surprised.

"Good." He said. Honestly.

He takes her hand. And walks away with her.

Itachi was thirteen when he became ANBU and henceforth started to live in a world of mask and deception.

But at nine, Sasuke knows when to tell the truth.

Maybe he does hate her in a way. But over time, like Naruto has always wanted, lines will blur and it can change.

…

**Woo. I have always found it somewhat unrealistic to read post-war canon SasuHina fics to read about Sasuke wondering what the hell did she see in Naruto because obviously, they share just the same sentiments in essence. Now, that it is out of my hair, I'd like to say these installments have major timeskips in them and thus will revolve around the years and will always have the comparison note in the end. I seem to remember the part in one of the flashbacks where Sasuke compares himself to Itachi in this way.**

**So very unbetaed. Maybe if I am not so busy right now, I can edit it but not yet this time.**

**Next chapter will be the Hyuuga Massacre. Yay!**

**And oh... this is NOT Itachi bashing. **

**Do leave a review, It's like a drug to me oh yeah!**


	3. The bad news

**Author's Note: And so, I'm officially an adult today. And of age when I no longer have to have my parents sign a freaking consent to allow me to go to a fieldtrip. Happy Birthday to me *pops part pooper. **

**This is the next chapter, if you haven't noticed. **

**…**

**Anarchy**

**.**

**. Part Three.**

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**.**

The bad news comes in the shoji doors with a gust of Konoha rain— the worst in years, his mother testifies which Itachi only dismissed, with omnipresence of an ANBU captain as merely an exaggeration— in the form of a weary-looking but excited enough shinobi . It's the Hyuugas!, the almost celebratory voice hollows with gusto as he kneels before their Captain Fugaku, knees still trembling in what could have been seen as wonder. It's the death! Dead! White-eyed bastards! It finally came to them!

It is of no secret to anyone with half a mind that the Uchiha-Hyuuga feud has gotten worst over the years. The demise of one is as good as a feast to the other. The animosity stems from way back, as the Uchiha flourished into the strongest and the Hyuuga was deemed inferior despite the layers of prestige they hold. The strong and the stronger, like a predetermined conclusion when referring to the illustrious clans of Hyuuga and Uchiha respectively. And with that comes the discontent. When the Uchiha are the pillars of law enforcement, the Hyuuga are stuck of only being at the sidelines, merely sensory shinobis used for an easy way out when the Uchihas of higher reputation are out of commission. This could be viewed enough as just a rational rivalry and yet behind cupped hands are whispers of how the Uchiha is better and how the Hyuuga is but an obsolete bloodline that is waiting to be extinct by a much superior variation of their prided Byakugan. And with much disdain, the Hyuuga did see it all.

Interesting, Fugaku mouths once he took in the news. How the theoretical evolutionary inevitability is proven right in the light of this development. The world's hierarchy is determined through the survival of the fittest and upon this news, it is apparent that the Hyuuga is not one of them.

"You see," the Uchiha patriarch snorts— the closest he will ever come to a chuckle. "The strong eliminates the weak. The weak are meat, the strong eat."

Overnight, the Hyuuga clan meets their end, slaughtered mercilessly by their own kin— a Branch member who by some magic courtesy of being recruited early by the shady ROOT Foundation, has somehow overcome the abominable caged bird seal. Thirteen-year old Hyuuga Neji is their very own revered prodigy, their answer to Uchiha's Itachi. The similarities don't end there. Shinobi already at eight, he was a killing machine. Anbu captain at thirteen, he was unstoppable. He was viewed as unstable, with his great hatred towards all the Hyuugas that he didn't even bother to hide, with a lot of violent angst to spare when he was drilled into the belief by his superiors that he didn't get what he deserved. Brainwashed and perhaps a little insane himself, he murdered his entire clan without much of a backward glance, murdering generations of capable shinobi to earn the place at the top of the Bingo Book.

At another time, when he would be alone to retrospect, Sasuke would have wondered whether Itachi could have done the same thing should the… drive surface. Could he have done this massacre in cold blood as Neji did?

But at this moment, before the messenger and his stoic but sickeningly delighted father, Sasuke only has one pressing thought.

Hinata too?

Stunned silence.

The rest of his family members stares at him in astonishment and it is then that he realizes he has voiced his dread and worry out loud. His inquiry of her welfare, with his wide eyes and glassy orbs don't leave much to the imagination. But he is shaking, the rings in his head clonking so loud he couldn't care less whether they all snort in disapproval for his question. The fact that he cared enough to show this kind of weakness should be the last thing in their minds after all.

Sasuke feels something heavy in his chest, his eyes seeing red as the image of Hinata's morbid death comes to mind. Why? Why her? She doesn't deserve this!

Surprisingly, it is Itachi's deep baritone that snaps him out of his pity party. He speaks as if he knows perfectly of how he feels. Like he can symphatize. "Is she a friend? Otouto?"

Itachi sounds sorry enough. But it does nothing to relieve Sasuke's grief. The fact that his nii-san still has a shred of humanity left doesn't ease his anguish over his.. his lost chances. He tries to shrug off the hand that Itachi puts consolingly on his shoulder and yet as the squeeze strengthens, Sasuke realizes that he is already shivering too much in his hysteria for the display of pride to be intentional.

He half expects his father to drone something about showing weakness or his mother's croons of sympathy and discouragement. They never did approve of any association with their white-eyed ancestors after all. But what welcomes him as he looks up is quietude. Fugaku stares at him with a smirk of pride. Sasuke halfheartedly wonders why. Mikoto is with tears. And it takes a second for Sasuke to deduce that she just probably found out the reason for her youngest son's subtle smiles in the past years and tolerability in the worst way possible.

Itachi squeezes harder, staring wistfully at his younger brother's red eyes. It is not from restrained tears though.

Two days before the Academy graduation and genin exams, and at the night of the Hyuuga Massacre, Uchiha Sasuke has just activated the Sharingan.

In the worst way possible.

The shinobi world is cruel, Itachi mourns. And despite his efforts to protect his beloved otouto from it, he has to learn that early in his career with so high a price. A bestfriend. Maybe his first love.

"People die Sasuke." Fugaku finally says. Not the least bit reassuring. Because— Itachi discretely rolls his eyes— who wants to hear that? "The shinobi world is cruel." The man reiterates "But you have to be a man about it. You are an Uchiha. Your Itachi-aniki himself—"

"I'm not like Itachi." The youngest Uchiha interrupts, surprising everybody with the venom in his tone. Made more menacing by the red eyes. He was tired of hearing. How Itachi did things earlier and better, how Sasuke could never amount to that. "And Hinata is not like Shisui. She tried. She deserved to. She wouldn't want to drown in a fucking river just because the world is just too much."

No.

In fact, he thinks in sadness. Hinata would have preferred to die when the world is no longer enough. When all the beauty of the world couldn't compensate to the atrocities she would witness. When like the flower that she is.. was, she would prefer to go down amongst the ruins than see more of it.

"Don't you dare compare her to Shisui,"

This rotten world doesn't deserve someone as pure as her anyway.

Right?

And yet, why does Sasuke mulls over his lost chance of making it worthwhile?

His family maintains quiet, something he is only glad enough to embrace before an awkward cough interrupts.

So absorbed in his drama, it seems like Sasuke has forgotten to kill the messenger. He glares at the man with all his might, wishing he was never here. Wishing Hinata is still…

"… Alive…. Not dead…" Sasuke hears vaguely. "In the hospital… Relatively well considering… Seems like the mass murderer has some soft spot for his little cousin after all…"

Sasuke looks up, plucked suddenly into reality with some hope. "What?"

"She is still alive Sasuke-sama. She's okay. The Hyuuga traitor spared her. I was about to tell you that—"

Without any more ado, Sasuke dashes away in a startling speed that even Itachi, the superior brother had to admit he could not even come close to.

Itachi was thirteen when he lost his bestfriend Shisui, when he was struck with the epiphany that sometimes, you weren't just fast enough to stop anyone from drowning in themselves.

When later that night, the Uchiha main family hear of the news about Sasuke stopping the sole Hyuuga survivor from killing herself, they are not surprised.

Sasuke is twelve. Mediocre shinobi-in-the-making. Unlike Itachi.

But he is faster and more punctual than anyone could ever brag to be when it actually matters.

**(TBC)**

**Yay! That was out! I didn't get many reviews in the last chapter and that makes me so damn sad. But I guess this is the downside of being a lazy writer who can't even post longer chapters. I am a drabbly type of person who prefers being concise and to the point since my vocabulary is but limited (not being a Native speaker and whatnot). And I like the lack of commitment a short series allows me. **

**I am introspective and introverted person so I don't pride myself with "social scenes" that's why I prefer writing angst and character studies. Although I must admit I enjoy reading them from others and interpreting the emotions incurring behind. Do tell me what you think though. Sick of my not-so-descriptive prose? Love it? Hate it? I will appreciate any feedback. **

**Can't. Edit. Yet. I'm. Having. A. Party. **

**Review! Like a birthday gift. **


	4. Expectations and hope

**I know it had taken me so long to update; what with life being the usual bitch and all. But at least, I am making it to the self-made promise of the once-a-week pattern XD. Longest chapter by far (not that long though) and I have to say that I am improving from the laziest bum in all FFN after your lovely reviews, Keep them coming guys!**

**.**

**.**

**Anarchy **

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**Part Four**

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Expectations and hope over being placed in the same four-cell team goes over the roof as the mighty Hyuuga clan falls that night, like water evaporating in sudden diffusion. Two days before the much anticipated Genin graduation the Hokage has his hands full and as if the problems of assigning youngpeople into a life that involves strife and death, the most powerful man in Konoha now has to cope from the loss of the clan composing most of the barracks. This is something that Itachi-aniki tells him as he sees him off to the exams just barely a day after Hinata thought she's better off leaping over buildings and dancing with Hades. "The shinobi world is cruel." He repeats like it has been a mantra, leaning over the post by the gates seeming like a freaking oracle that would have shamed Neko-baa. "You have to survive it."

At another day, it would have been a mundane statement: an older brother reminding his otouto to stay alive. But realizing now, that Itachi may have always spoken like this and that Sasuke hadn't even noticed the underlying advices in his random statements— the way aniki is telling him that he still loves him in roundabout way like he's not really allowed to— Sasuke tries to pick more a meaning to this. And he does.

The shinobi world is cruel.

And like every respectable ninja should, Hinata should be equipped enough to survive it. Immediately.

The Hokage probably thinks that with all the casualty they have in every ninja department after the overnight eradication of the Byakugan, putting in their arsenal the only remaining one that may as well combat the perpetrator's is a necessity as soon as possible. It's inhumanly cruel how in just a day's time, little Hinata shall be morphed into a clan's legacy and guided with a lot of signposts from whom she thought to be authority to the path of revenge.

"She reminds me of me." Itachi then mutters that morning of the graduation after breakfast, interrupting Sasuke's train of thought as he ties his sandals. He doesn't say anything else after that and with a gust of wind that somehow chooses to appear ominously (as well the rather persistent detail when as usual Itachi would be gone before one could tell he was even there) as if to signify and strengthen the older brother's conviction to that conclusion, he disappears just as Sasuke is beginning to rationalize the parting words. Particularly the fact that the three of them, as much as he insisted that he would never be like Itachi, is not so different after all.

It doesn't help that his aniki sounded like he was warning him of something.

Like a tool, she will be like Itachi?

Dumbfounded, Sasuke almost ran to the Academy gates in his haste to prove this dreadful prophecy wrong (But oh boy, didn't they say Itachi is always right?). Greetings from his nice aunt goes ignored as he sprints, the emotions ricocheting in his nerves akin to that one when he found himself speeding to the hospital two days ago. Something likes the gnawing premonition that you are going to lose something important. Again.

The gates leading to the Academy never felt more sinister and haunting than it was now.

He really should have expected seeing her calm and composed at the lines (the post-trauma shrinks they assigned must have done their job) where they are going to be shinobis from henceforth but still surprised and daresay it, heartbroken; she still, like the norm managed to take his breath away,

"You came."

That was said with a subtle gasp. Looking back at him, she throws a wary look as she raises her brow, ears cocking in a rather comical manner that he finds himself relieved to point out to be one of her old nervous quirks. He can tell why though. The whispers are getting more audible as he nears and anyone would be indeed apprehensive of something that only served best as amplifier to the gossip she might as well later hear for the rest of her life. What else would everybody like to feast on but someone with a tragic past?

Is she that girl?

Yes. My parents told me about her.

She lived when her family didn't.

Ha! Might as well. What took it so long for God to obliterate those stuck-up white-eyed bastards anyway.

Ah. The madness of their strongest it seems.

Poor girl. Such a nice one at that. She would surely change after this.

She would only live to see death.

Well, the world is cruel that way, right?

Painfully hushed whispers can barely hide what is apparent after this much unexpected appearance. Surprise that she is even here. Pity that she has to be. Slight disgust that she still tried. It is after all, barely a night since the unspeakable happened to her. Shouldn't she be grieving? But in the end, pure admiration wins over all the worldly judgment she is initially put under. To them, the girl proves to be quite a catch, pulling herself together in such a crisis point like a true shinobi should. Oh! She must be eager now for the murderer's blood! How ironic, they probably huff in mirth: that she only started to live like she should just when everyone else died.

They say all these and conveniently forget that she is only twelve.

Live for them, Sasuke remembers saying when he came to calm her down, his reserved words of comfort barely making a dent to her suicidal sobs. Live for them because they died for you. Think of it that way Hyuuga.

The mention of her clan name in such an encouraging, oxymoronically desperate tone made her snap out of it. She stared up at him, face stained with tears but never looking more beautiful than she did then.

That was when he kissed her.

To this day, (and it sounds so long because yes, he took some time to think about it) he doesn't really know what compelled him to do so, to bridge the gap between his acknowledged love and her developing hate with such intimate contact. He was confused, yes but he never could dare to ask anyone else with higher omniscience about this than him. Yet however, Itachi seemed to know enough. Or else why would he remind Sasuke when he went home, haggard and enervated from the hospital that one only realizes something that is precious once you almost lose it?

"I used to think Shisui's will was unbreakable." He had admitted and the tone of another advice incoming stopped Sasuke from wondering what in the world had possessed his older brother to open up about such a taboo subject. "That was until it was broken."

Some things were remained unsaid. And yet even that resonated louder in the young Uchiha's conciousness. Seeing Hinata now in this state, he wonders whether it would be right to let her live to see death, to be reckoned by her own force once she becomes the avenger they are molding her to be. Or whether at this aberration of his world's events, it is still the right thing to love a changed person.

"Yes." She surprises him by answering. He didn't expect to hear her voice so… soon, having a limited preteen logic with psychological trauma: that the repercussions being only fissures maximized wherein the bad becomes worse and the good strives to be better. He actually thought she would be more verbally unresponsive by now. Taciturn. Quiet. Like he thought he would be. "Yes. I made it."

But she doesn't smile.

Sasuke frowns.

"But so soon?" he intercepts her before she could walk away, meanwhile ignoring the blatant stares of confusion they got, the oddity in itself of him talking to her in this manner (in academy grounds no less), the potential loss of Hinata's popularity from his more psychotic fangirls and the fact that he still blushes like mad with the desperate kiss they shared in the rooftop. Because, this is definitely something else. He doesn't really understand what would drive Hinata to dance with Hades so soon when she just had a close shaves with the shinigami?

This time, as if noticing his turmoil, Hinata looks up at him in the eye. To his secondary interest, her Byakugan is activated as if attempting to see through him. To see through the reason of everything.

He valiantly stares back.

The staring match lost from her side, she sighs. "I hate him."

He falls silent. And in his little world of him and her, everything else also quieted.

She fidgets slightly, as she would prior, when she was struggling to get things out. But in this case, it does have some validation for a reason for pronouncing as strong as statement as that would surely leave oneself at a loss of explanation. Hate is a strong emotion and while it might seem perfectly understandable and sympathizing from an outsider's viewpoint, it is something that one can not really explain through some means of only physical events. She hates him, yes. Because he killed her clan. But does she really?

And this is confirmed when after a shrug and a deep exhale of contemplation, she speaks with some conviction. "But I don't really think I like other people hating him."

Sasuke, as young and stupid as he was would have deciphered it immediately as her own selfishness to share her sentiments to others who don't even share an ounce of idea about her pain. He would have felt the same after all. But he waits for an elaboration. Because as similar as they are in background, there are just some things wherein they would react to a situation differently.

She reminds him of himself most of the time; of what he could be but wouldn't ever be regardless of any happening that he would undergo. Like being too nice for her own good.

"I…" she stutters, half-trembling like an specimen under an electronic microscope. "I don't think Neji-niisan is that bad."

Bingo. But his eyes are wide from surprise nevertheless.

"So others picking on him… bothers me." She concludes, looking at him like his reaction is something to be wary of. "I-I do b-believe he has a reason. He woke me up for example."

"Woke you up?"

"Both ways. He spared me from death and saved me from my own… weakness."

He mulls this over. If you think it that way…

"But isn't that like blinding yourself with only the bright side?" Sasuke voices out without hesitation, wondering but deep inside knowing exactly what she meant by that. "Isn't it a bit too optimistic for you to think… like that?"

"Maybe." She mutters in answer with a shrug that appeared wholly uncharacteristic of her. "But you can't deny that he must have seen some value in me not to spare me of the incoming misery of living with all this death. That at least, in his own world I can be of merit to him, whichever manner that could be. Maybe it's my fate. Maybe—"

"And you're his tool?" he interrupted in annoyance. He doesn't like the direction this rambling is going. He has enough of the fate baloney in the Uchiha clan. "Don't you think that is too low for the _Hyuuga survivor _to put in herself? As merely someone that could give that bastard a good fight when he finally faces his judgment? Hinata—"

"Sasuke-kun." She interjects, her voice surprisingly strong as if terribly exasperated. Sasuke loses his breath one more time at the glint of barely suppressed anger in her eyes. "Don't call _him _that."

The venom in her voice is enough to make him shut up.

Silence.

In which Sasuke shrugs and stares at her with as much as intensity as he can muster, for better conveyance that please no, do not be like anyone I wouldn't want you to be, "You've changed."

She nods in agreement, not bothering to contradict his derogatory tone and accepting his pronouncement wholeheartedly. "The shinobi world changed me."

The shinobi world is cruel, he quotes in his head. Oh Itachi.

"And.." she resumes into speaking, leveling her gaze to his. Pensively, one might add. "I see that I am not the only one."

Oh. He must have unconsciously activated his sharingan in all his irritation.

Red eyes revert to black. He eyes her minutely with eyebrows raised.

"There isn't any less I can expect from Sasuke-kun." she murmurs in continuation, mouth curved in the reminiscent of a wistful smile but with more brittleness than a child's should have. "I remind you of yourself after all."

The unsaid: Don't judge me. I am just fucked up as you are. You would probably be me at another lifetime.

He sighs and rewards her a smile (which by the way, much to his satisfaction made her slightly red. At least there are still element of the old times in her), telling her what he thought of saying in his dreadful ruminations when she would wish to end things between them. To severe thy bonds perhaps? Damn it to hell would he ever let that. "Then maybe we should just reintroduce ourselves, eh?"

He squeezes the wrist he has not realized he is holding this whole time since he came up to her and stares longingly at her plump, pink lips

She responds by allowing him to.

Itachi was sixteen when he first consummated with a woman, giving in belatedly to the hormones and after two weeks of rocky misunderstandings and epiphanies of sheer incompatibility, finally broke up with her. Something along the arrogant typical Uchiha line of: "she wasn't worth it".

But Sasuke is only twelve when he really finds himself falling in love for the first time and drowning in the sea of insecurity that with the alteration she was abruptly and mercilessly put into, he might himself not be worthy of a passing glance.

Hinata breaks away from his hold and so the line that used to separate them becomes more distinct than ever. His love. Her hate. And the same as the theoretical fissure growing after a life changing event that shook their lives' foundations into the core, Sasuke can't help but feel the drifting difference this makes.

(TBC)

**Yay for the update. Anyway, I'd like to take this oppurtunity to thank everyone for the so far positive feedback I am one with a somewhat fragile ego, that meant a lot to me just to hear someone bothers to read my stuff. That said, I am currently writing another SasuHina fanfic which by the way, will be a psychological mystery that stars a bit of character death. It's pretty much done in essence and I am taking it into career to post longer chapters than I am doing now once I finish Anarchy (which shall be two chapters away). **

**I hope Itachi redeemed himself. I mean, I don't hate the guy. But he isn't as perfect as canon!Sasuke believes. Gosh, Itachi even said he wasn't one without failures in that fight against Kabuto. And I think that makes him much easier to write as a character**

**UNBETEAD as usual so please forgive me for the glaring mistakes and less-detailed-than-is-standard writing. :D**


	5. The so-called Hyuuga Avenger

**I almost lost the inspiration to write to be honest. Being the heavily insecure person I am, I thought the next chapters might not be up to par with your expectations and then comes my usual angst *sigh. Gosh, I really should practice more to improve. But then I thought: to hell with it!— it can wait. So I posted this now and thankfully, I am pretty determined to post the last sometime next week just to get this over with. Rereading the past chapters made me realize how much my writing might not makes sense to the regular reader. *sighs again.**

**I don't know what to feel about this. Please do tell me your thoughts though. **

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**Anarchy**

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**Part Five**

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The so-called Hyuuga Avenger, unfortunately for most of those in the sadomasochistic sidelines, is not really their ideal shinobi to be easily manipulated into thinking the path of vengeance is best taken through sheer violence and general animosity of those that might get in the way. Nor is she the obedient dog of the Konoha Shinobi Front they have wanted since day one and the deadly weapon they are trying to polish as much as they can even through the most unconventional means. Sending assassins during mission to brainwash her into insecurity as the remaining legacy is altogether made a wasted endeavor as Hinata kept her resolve somehow to change Hyuuga in a way which goes opposite to the desires of those who wanted the traitor's head. It didn't help at all that Neji, in the span of three years have not made any sign of a shadow in vicinity of his pretty, little cousin. This lack of encounters, of course gained some speculation from those who proclaim themselves to know better. Maybe she's in association with The Murderer! An accomplice! We should stop them!— those Hyuugas! How dare they? They reasoned that there must be some motive behind leaving Hinata alive and it is not really as romantic as the dreamy Konoha housewives want it to be. Envisioning two cousins with a powerful dojutsu in alliance against Konoha after all, is a pretty unsightly vision; one that involves blood and more treachery. This at least, explains why Hyuuga Hinata is just plain weak— or at least, weaker than is standard for the heiress of a noble shinobi clan— and has this unusual reluctance to fight despite her towering genetic advantage. Indeed, it makes sense if the traitor actually told the girl to hide her strength and thus surprise Konoha that they seem to hate so much when they finally join forces to destroy it! Ha! Now, that is better! How these men are proud of their illogical deduction, Sasuke will never know. All the sarcasm aforementioned duly noted.

There is a reason for Hinata's "weakness", as those close-minded fools lovingly dub it. Those who know and love her suggests it could just be her natural meekness acting to the bloodshed accompanied in their lifestyle, which in itself should be subject for question as Hinata did witness more of those violence firsthand with her own blood and kin concerned. When faced by this inquiry, her friends are merely unfazed, saying that to some people, it just never gets easier than it was the first time. When told however, quite blatantly that with that attitude Hinata may as well just die in a hole or quit, they all invariably proceed to pummel the speaker into near-death. Kiba does so a lot, being on the same tracking team and the self=proclaimed alpha male of the pack: to which Akamaru barks happily in support and even level-headed Shino, who to Sasuke's chagrin is rather close to Hinata in the same way he is (which is pretty much the quiet understanding that should be their signature), commends this kind of cavalier behavior against those that badmouth her.

They all collectively think that she is too nice to receive such kind of pressure.

But really what choice does she have?

Sasuke, however can pride himself to know better. Hinata is still that little manipulator from all those years ago. And it's entirely up to her own agenda. Why? You may ask…"The shinobi world is cruel." She would say time and time again when the topic is brought into question, meanwhile shrugging like she doesn't care one way or another whether in today's mentality, she is deemed weak for being the anarchist that she is becoming. Sasuke, would later find out that she and Itachi have been talking that out for quite some time. Having the long term interest of the entire Uchiha clan has its quirks after all. "And I don't really want to be a part of it."

That is when he realizes that indeed, he will love this girl forever.

He has always adored the independent ones. And in more ways than one, there is something attractive about the idea of Hinata violating her coded protocol as the proclaimed avenger to save herself from being controlled like a Sand Puppet for the gain of the world she hates with passion. He is the only one who can see it. And he is the only one who can ever understand.

Or so he thinks.

They haven't even interacted much over the years. What does he know anyway?

For countless of nights, he has mulled over the morbid possibility of him missing out what exactly goes over her mind— the fact that she may as well have fooled him with a façade she has unconsciously set up to cope with the pain. For Hinata, ever since they are but little children thinking of life as rainbows and happy endings, has always been someone who thinks it is better to pretend that everything is okay: a girl who prefers to smile falsely than for others to see her tears. He saw her break down only twice and never again after that. What worries him more than anything is the fact that she seems okay with everything now, proceeding with life like the Hyuuga family never existed and Neji is not running amok alive and kicking as if mocking her existence. While forgetting is shallowly considered as pretty much a commendable process for moving on, it is not something that Sasuke wants to see in her. For in reality forgetting in the surface means bottling it up enough that when it bursts, it can only annihilate oneself into absolute destruction. Hinata is far from the stoic, emotionless machine Itachi has become. She still shows emotions but she is damn good at feigning most of it.

And that is worst than being avenger the village is forcing her to be.

Barely fifteen, Hinata may have made it her life for years to lie to herself.

So it should come as no surprise for her to… surprise him yet again.

Considerable foresight should have expected it— Hinata can only take too much of the pressure from her superiors after all. Noticing the manipulation behind those words of encouragement and brainwashing tactics has made her distrust higher authority early on that she has has already developed this strong anarchist ideology: her apparent disdain to the shinobi way of life and her inexplicable indifference with The Murderer Neji himself. And yet as he witnesses her walk down the road with a backpack slung on her shoulders and her hitai-ate missing aroud where she usually wears it, to the North Gate of Konoha (meanwhile staring at him with an uncharacteristic smirk, apparently smug that he has taken into her vague invitation earlier that day for a meet-up at the dead of the night), he notes with half a mind that as before, she still manages to take his breath away.

"I was actually hoping to spare you the cheesy farewells." she helpfully begins the confrontation with a tone that Sasuke never thought he would ever hear again: confident and resolute—definitely not the girl who blushes in shame when hearing of her "weakness" from cupped hands. This must be the real Hinata, he muses. The Massacre did change her then. But seeing her now, without any glint of oddity in her eyes that anyone would have expected for someone who have been pretentious all her childhood, it seems that the alteration has taken for the good path. What shines in her orbs are just determination and that small way of hers when regarding him as she thinks of the friendship they shared. Oh, how he loves this woman! "But I guess it can't be helped. The least I can do is to part properly with someone who can tell people what they want to hear. You probably won't see me again for all we know. But that is just a probability, ne, Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha tries not to shift uncomfortably at her grim premonition, preferring to just take her in all her tragic glory why he still can. He narrows his eyes at her as he shoves his hands inside his pockets, like he did all those years ago during their usually awkward conversations. He realizes that during those times, like invariabilityin itself, they always end up concluding just how the shinobi world could be cruel. This one tonight, it seems, is no different. "Hn. And why is that?"

"Well..." The inherent uneasiness in her manner seems to back with a vengeance. Seriously? Hyuuga Hinata seems to be no one without that distinctive nervousness about practically everything. But somehow, the resolve in her eyes is still unwavering. "Just that I'm leaving Konoha for a while. Is all."

"To pursue Neji?" This, at least sounds like the Hinata everyone expects her to be.

"You can say that." She murmurs her answer to the inquiry, as if unsure herself. "But mostly just to get power."

He frowns, not understanding. Is she planning to ally herself with some missing nin or something? "Has Konoha not been enough for your standards then?" he asks in confusion, remembering how she adamantly refused every training regimen the high-honchos offered her. At the time, he did rationalize it enough to presume that it is because of her anarchic tendencies— the fact that she seems to despise being ordered around by higher shinobi who insisted it is for her own welfare, as much as she said she hated herself. This time, he is inclined to wonder whether that had just been her pride as a Hyuuga all along. They never wanted help. That is, aside from that of their own blood.

And the only other remaining one… is Hyuuga Neji, of mass murdering notoriety.

What is she planning?

"No." she replies. Not surprisingly, with the conviction she always holds when wanting to shut him speechless again. She is such an enigma indeed. "Konoha has been too much."

It bears the desired effect. Sasuke is rendered silent.

The owl croons again.

That seems to happen around her a lot.

"What do you mean?" he finds himself demanding harshly, taking her hand that she always refused to offer when she tried to take a backpedal. The persistent voice in his head keeps whispering: _This is your last chance. _And as if that epiphany is enough to further intoxicate him of her barely lingering presence, he greedily takes in every detail that she still has to offer. Beautiful, the romantic in him describes without pause and preamble, remarking with a note that with her silky hair and a face of a nymph, she looks more like an immaculate Goddess of the Hearth rather than a wronged, unstable woman from a Greek tragedy.

"I want to seek a peace of mind." She answers without any form of indecision that Sasuke wonders whether she really is as conflicted as she tries to make herself be.

Thin, elegant brows furrow. "Do you expect me to just stand here, watch you leave to Kami-knows-where with nothing more than a see-you-soon noteas if you won't die on the way? " He feigns a derisive snort, one he usually grumbles whenever Itachi unintentionally mocks him into self-derision. "Hn. You must be more stupid than I initially assumed."

She shrugs, appearing only to have found humor more than anything in his comment. Or perhaps, just like she always did, she put two and two together again and found another form of parallelism in his statement. Well, in a way, he did start this ongoing similarities game between them. "Well, we both are stupid."

"Because I remind you of you as well. Hn. I realize that." He rolls his eyes, dismissing the incoming banter with a wave. He prefers to take things seriously this time and no longer dwell with their inside joke: the fact that this situation wouldn't have been any dissimilar even with their roles reversed. Sasuke peruses her with squinting orbs that would have looked unpleasantly nearsighted in Naruto's face but succeeded enough on making his effectively assertive. "What makes you think I won't scream for backup and stop you?"

"Would you?" she snaps with a contemplative frown, albeit retaining that tone that doesn't ever make one shriek back in indignation. "Because, you know if it is I in your shoes I wouldn't have,"

The words are phrased to be merely suggestive but the way it rolled away in the thick air of tension between them impresses one with absolute certainty. She even looks smug about it! And yet, Sasuke once again finds himself not minding. He stares at her, and realizes that she always knows that he will understand.

The little manipulative witch…

But then, he doesn't have a choice, does he? Whoever said that everything is fair in love and war is definitely a delusional fool. Because simply put, there is inevitably someone who is left behind and like fools themselves, it is something they learn to accept like fate.

Maybe she is right. He is stupid too.

But damn the shinobi world to hell before he ever admits that.

"Tch." He nonchalantly purses his lips in sudden decision and takes a step back, the sound of his sandals making a resounding _plomp_ on the pavement, like an eerie ominous signal to seal each other's fate. "You're right I won't scream. And don't get anything the wrong way. It's just that I don't want to scream my heart out when I know no one can hear me."

She laughs. The sound of it is astonishing in his ears. It doesn't sound fake for once. "Exactly."

Again, like all those years ago, a comfortable silence settles between the two.

She shifts from one foot to another then, never getting over that fidgety antic of not staying put despite not being a woman of action herself. She doesn't poke her pointer fingers in this uneasiness though, which is quite a relief since Sasuke isn't really willing to ruin the illusion that she is still that pathetic child he saved from years ago. Hinata looks up at him in the eye and from then, a tacit communication commences. "Ne Sasuke-kun," she begins, like she isn't about to bid him her last farewell. Like they are just two normal teenagers without a dysfunctional, massacred family and blood-tainted hands. Like they don't live in this cruel, cruel world of shinobi. "Do you still hate me?"

Sasuke takes his time to answer. Because he didn't expect that to come up. "I never did." Although admittedly, he kind of used to. If his disdain of her being always on his mind could be counted as that. Whether his envy of her resolve actually counts.

She smiles. Heartbreaking. "But wasn't I who you never wanted yourself to be? I mean, you sort of said so yourself. Remember, years ago? By the stream?"

"Beats me." He shrugs the inquiry off, as if it's an altogether unimportant matter and better off forgotten. "But you can always guess. "

"Let me. Lines blur into the indistinguishable?"

An affirmative nod. He doesn't want to seem so eager to get this off his chest. "Hn. I guess I like you more than I hate you." He grins sheepishly. "Take that as a compliment. Since I basically hate everyone."

It is as good as a love confession, coming from him. Hinata sighs audibly in regret.

"I don't want to know about love if I have to be honest." She quietly admits, fiddling for the fourth time with her backpack straps. She is definitely being antsy. "The last time I wholeheartedly did, I lost them. Father. Hanabi-chan. Neji-niisan. Kaa-san too. I was so young then and as much as it is illogical, it made me believe that only bad things happen when you love."

"Can't really say I disagree." He murmurs in response. She looks up in mild surprise. Some amazement even. Why is it that he always understands? "Because, well, we live in a pretty cruel world. It's not really the ideal place for rainbows and unicorns you know. Or happy endings with knights in shining armor. Love…"

"Hai." She mutters in agreement, feeling the air suddenly go cold at her next statement. "Just war. And hate. That is the shinobi world in its entirety" Hinata closes her eyes as she wheels around to turn her back to him, head downcast and legs springing into poise as if she would start running any second. Sasuke resists the urge to give chase. "You know what Neji-niisan told me before he left? That the only way I could ever live is through hate. That I must hate him with all my heart. That I must hate the world as well. But you know something? I don't. I couldn't. Because I understand that the reason he must have spared me is because of love. Love for the Hyuugas? Love for the immediate family? Love for the promise he made for his father? I don't know. But I can feel it's there. At the time I saw him last… while I was at the hospital after he showed up to speak to me… to display the blood in his hands… to tell me those abominable things he himself believed once upon a time… " She cocks her head back suddenly, watching his reaction it appears. "… I thought I really saw Kami. I can't explain it but it was there."

Riveted, Sasuke listens.

"I could have killed myself right there and then." She resumes. "Jump out of the ledge to end all of my sufferings. To enact my own form of revenge to nii-san as I disappoint him yet again. But I saw Him. Hope, that is. In retrospect now.." She smiles at him. "… I realize it was actually you at the time."

His breath caught, disbelieving.

"I saw the love in your eyes and I hated it." She continues, taking a deep sigh. "I hated you. I decided to force all my hatred to you. For saving me when I thought I should be better off dead. Ironically, like a self-fulfilling prophecy…"

… _it was only when I decided to live to hate you enough was when I really started to live…_

… _And do you know what Sasuke-kun? Lines started to blur for me too. And along the way, I fell in love. _

The words echo in his mind with an insistent buzz, his heart thudding faster.

From where Hinata once stood is only a cluster of floating leaves and the whisper of the gale that told him he heard it right. _This is your last chance. _But Hinata is already gone. And that indeed is her idea of saying goodbye.

At the Hokage tower, the bell tolls midnight.

Today is his birthday.

And for the first time in years, he makes a soft, once-in-a-lifetime wish that he hopes desperately to be at least heard by the Gods just this once.

Being with Hinata in the next life, when he is no longer the Uchiha inferior and she is no longer the Hyuuga legacy, doesn't seem so bad a prospect already. And so he makes the promise, holding up his pinky to his sightline, praying for all the deity that she will come home because he will wait. Forever, if it needs be.

Itachi is twenty-one now and is betrothed to the most eligible young lady to be found from within the clan, their vows one with convenience and their love apparently something they have exaggerated from merely tolerance. Sasuke knows well that any promises they would robotically make before the altar would be merely be hollow ones with no heart. In sickness and in health. In richer or poorer. Till death do they part.

But Sasuke is sixteen when he swears to himself and Hinata that if necessary, he would go through hell and back just to make sure the possibility of her demise in the hands of this cruel shinobi world wouldn't ever severe thy bonds. And maybe that makes them Romeo and Juliet. But he is Sasuke. She is Hinata. Not Uchiha. Not Hyuuga. Not shinobi. And that is all that matters.

He willingly submits to their fates today. There is just nothing he can do after all.

Maybe someday… Kami would be nicer to him and they would meet again.

(TBC)

**I would like to clear things. In this fanfic, I didn't make Hinata suddenly badass and strong because let's face it, she isn't really the type to suddenly hate and have monstrous chakra reserves afterwards. She has her own strength though and it isn't really the canon!Sasuke-type of power that really just doesn't ring true to me. I made her out to be an avenger that doesn't like to be one so amidst the pressure the government is giving her, she just up and left, at the excuse of getting "power". Whatever she means with that, I will not make her go to Orochimaru for reasons that she wasn't given the curse seal because the snake-nin wouldn't be very interested with the Byakugan (since the guy never met Neji and never realized its true potential as a dojutsu? Besides it's not as if the Byakugan has a known second level. It's pretty annoying though how Kishimoto disregards that kekkei genkai altogether while making the other two all powerful). Aside from that, I don't want this to get long and work through the excruciating canon while just swapping names to make a story. That gets pretty boring doesn't it? **

**The next one will be the last. As I said, this is all in Sasuke's point of view and thus will dwell more on their significant interactions over the years. Clue: there is a reason why this called Anarchy after all. **

**Please review. **


	6. Someday comes

**And once again, my problem of clustering too many words in a single sentence is resurfacing. I seriously don't have any idea why this so except for the fact that I myself tend to ramble in real life. So yeah, in my poor social life these days, I get the "weird" and blank stares remark a lot. *sigh**

**This is the last chapter and yes, I understand that it may seem incomplete and with something lacking. This wasn't supposed to be a multi-chaptered in the first place (blame it to pure laziness and my busy schedule. I'm afraid I am not as zealous to anything as the next person. Very troublesome). But writing this and realizing its faults sure helped me to be more coherent in my next ventures next time. So please keep in touch. :D**

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**Anarchy**

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**Part Six**

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Someday comes three years later: in the form of a retrieval mission composing the entirety of Rookie Nine… no… eight— her favorite number, he notes. Always the Hyuuga that she is—meticulously set to get her home after the rumor of Neji's execution in her hands came. To be frank, it surprised him. And he feels a tad bit betrayed about it. Just when he thought he did get into her head… she did the thing these horrible people around her had always wanted her to do. Where is the Hinata who thought she would find peace when she finally meets Neji for a talk? Isn't she a legacy and not the forged avenger? Didn't she say she would prefer to live for love than survive with hate? Then again, these are only the words he had presumed she said when in reality those were only the version of the truth that he would prefer to hear for himself. He was only putting those in her mouth for his own delusional purposes: how Hinata would return and blow everybody's mind when she becomes the Hyuuga legacy no one ever expected her to be. And while it was technically true that everyone was astounded to hear The Murderer himself overcome by the supposedly weak survivor, it wasn't what Sasuke had imagined she would do. He thought she would have understood Neji. After all, how could she kill a person whose only mistake was loving her unconditionally enough to be unable to wield the sword through her throat? It was what she herself had interpreted through the mystery of her still being alive. That her Neji-niisan is not that bad. That maybe he still had some love left in his soul. That maybe, as his cousin and assigned judge, she could rekindle the fire that was their family's crest. But then, perhaps the baseless rumors did have some merit in this development. Perhaps Hyuuga Neji was indeed as insane as the mass murderer that he was. To the squirming of his gut, Sasuke was also forced to consider the unseemly notion of Neji only leaving Hinata behind for her to be his very own broodmare later on. He could still have the pride, they had said. The desire of reviving the Byakugan bloodline wasn't so far-fetched from a disgruntled Hyuuga's point of view if you come to think of it.

And the motive behind the Massacre itself was not even counted yet. Most thought it was the centuries-old grudge to the Main House and general Branch House hostility against who they should consider family. Neji, being the son of the deceased head of the Branch House and the clan's offering himself to the special ANBU training he was forced to endure, was assumed to have had enough and just went to a murder rampage like a madman hellbent for vengeance. Somehow, Sasuke doubted it was likely. As much as they are only a bunch of white-eyed bastards who thought themselves above everyone, the Hyuuga Clan was still one of the most powerful clans in the village. And Hiashi himself was a genius worth of note in the clan techniques. They were in the sidelines, yes, but their Jyuuken could be a thousand times more deadly than an Uchiha's Katon jutsu when executed well. Their Byakugan also had the best insight around, better even than the Sharingan. And you couldn't question their outstanding sensory perception. The truth is, they were scarily powerful and yet like the vanquished against the victor even that was immediately forgotten.

One thing was for sure though: The Hyuuga Clan Massacre incriminating Neji should have been inconceivable in itself. And yet with the illogical conclusion of them being weak just because they were a place lower than the Uchiha clan, the public accepted this easily, believing that with the Hyuuga clan better off extinct, it was only a matter of time before even with their outrageous numbers they still couldn't stop a psychopath in a killing spree and just without any publicized post mortem explanation, ultimately perish. They didn't even stop to consider that this was still the infamous Hyuuga clan who were essentially the heroes in the Third World War and that even their resident genius shouldn't be able to easily overcome an infinitely more experienced clan leader and his cohorts all by his thirteen year old self!

Realizing this, suddenly, Hinata's resolve of believing that there must be a reason underneath for all this, is not so much of a something that is against rational thinking.

And yet, they said she did kill her Neji-niisan.

Why?

This is the first question he blatantly welcomes her with as she materializes before him in still the swirl of leaves she somehow made fancy and ethereal, after he deliberately separated himself from camp. The others were sleeping, none too keen about finding a person who they didn't deem as any big threat anyway since she is still the nice, sweet Hinata-chan just as when she left. And that her branding herself as a nukenin is perfectly justifiable since she was just out looking for a "peace of mind". When asked to elaborate on that almost correct observation from their part, it would be Shino (unsurprisingly) who answers: "Why? Because Hinata certainly needs hers." Kiba would counter to his teammate's not-so-clear answer with a belligerent: "It's not like she killed anyone on her way. Or joined a crime organization. Or had a bloody fight with one of us for attempting to intercept her. Actually, the only thing I am upset about is her leaving like that without wearing that pendant I gave her so that I can easily track her. She even removed Shino's kikai bug! But I guess that is understandable considering…. Oh to hell with it! Why was this even called a retrieval operation anyway? She is not a criminal dammit!"

These are exactly the same twosome who credited themselves better a brother than Neji could ever be.

But Sasuke has asked himself many a time while trying to understand: could they have done any better?

Collectively, the remaining rookies don't understand what is the deal with the higher echelons wanting Hinata this bad as if they are on edge about her being a dangerous figure so soon after finally having The Murderer's head on her shoulders. But they don't really dig more of it. Even Shikamaru deduces that it only makes sense for their bosses to want to control that power Hinata must have had magically acquired in order to overcome the legendary Hyuuga prodigy. Sasuke however thinks differently. This is something he has proven when she appears before him once again for the first time in three years, more broken than when she left. Her eyes resembling more of silver-colored steel than the pure opal gems they used to be.

The first thing he asked was why.

And it wasn't something she answered right away.

One thing leads to another however. And amidst the flurry of him reassuring her that no, like the last time, he doesn't think he can scream that loud to alert anyone— kisses of fierce hate are exchanged. Both despising how it took them so long. She tells him this was the happiest she had been in a long time. When she smiles. When kisses lead to more and they no longer care about worried teammates around a campfire or cold, dark caves or the fucking shinobi world. Having each other suddenly feels pleasantly overwhelming, when consumed by mutual hate for the reunion being postponed until now, they make love instead.

Her skin is like fire. Worshipping Hinata with his lips just feels so right that it drifts slowly to his consciousness as the river of desire like he was missing half of his body until now. And loving her madly is even more so. Some droplets of fresh blood pools oozes from where they are very much connected as a single entity now as they wordlessly agree on a rhythm and he is satisfied as a man to note that he is her first. And only ever be.

He traces soothing patterns on her effort-drenched body, lingering on a healing scar on the underside of her breasts: a poignant scar of love and hate. So beautiful. This is when he asks her why.

"Neji-niisan was in love with me." She replies after a much-needed pause, her breath fanning his neck, therefore effectively taking away his again. The sensual ministrations post sex has nothing to do with his momentary loss of composure however, his stomach churning more at the words she revealed. Confusion is a dominant emotion.

"You don't mean that... don't you?" This is all that he manages to get out at the light of these seemingly endless developments. It isn't everyday that you hear a person who supposedly committed manslaughter tell you that the one she should hate and possibly ended up killing… was in love with her. He was her cousin too but with the shinobi world, that is beyond the point. "If you do…" he trails off, completely lost. "…how touching."

The halfhearted remark comes out hollow. Sarcastic even. Afraid that she will be offended, he instinctively draws her naked body closer, drawing comfort from her warmth. The fact that at least she is not the one whose head they shall bring over their shoulders. That finally, he has her in his arms. Hinata doesn't resist, just sighs.

"I didn't kill him you know." She resumes after a long, tense silence. In which Sasuke discovers that rewarding her with fleeting butterfly kisses on her cheek elicits more coherent responses about her current predicament and the prior escapades it stems from. "At least not in the way everyone seems to think. I couldn't. Even had I wanted to, which I didn't. He… Neji-niisan… he was in love with me."

Those words again.

The cloud of unknowing about whether Hinata herself reciprocates this sick feeling her cousin The Murderer might have for her, overshadows his better judgment for the matter at hand. Sasuke feels the cold hand of foreboding grip his heart. All conceived causes for him to admire Neji after all he has possibly subtly done for Hinata since the time he has vowed to be her protector, instantly goes over the roof as sheer jealousy courses its way through his veins.

He couldn't have done any better.

And that was the problem. The way Hinata reverently spoke Neji's name; it is apparent how much she regards the young man as her hero. The perfect epitome of her guardian. Of a knight. Even though he may have resorted in less conventional means of doing so. There was a deeper motive behind the Hyuuga Massacre. Hinata did say she was wholly convinced of the fact. And maybe when they met, she heard the truth the Konoha elders were trying to keep her away from. And slowly, perhaps her "indifference" with the man who she always assumed to be her roundabout savior… had ultimately turned into love.

The undeniably painful prospect turns his body cold.

Sasuke could only ever save her from an abusive father's wrath for a day. Neji did save her from more than a grudging life. And for the first time, the Uchiha admits this might be something he could never have a chance to do.

Hinata's arms snakes around his body however and somehow, the small gesture testifying their growing intimacy, reassures him again that Neji is gone now— typical Uchiha response to a Hyuuga rival— and he is the one who is alive. He kisses her. She kisses back. The desperation behind the contact doesn't go unnoticed. Sasuke guiltily remembers that she has just lost a brother and that the world thinks it was her entire fault. And here he is thinking about his competition!

"How is Itachi by the way?" she murmurs in question as she nuzzles his neck. However sensual that touch is, the question still manages to deflate his hard on. Amidst the darkness of the cave, Hinata seemed to have felt his anxiety about the inquiry, focusing on his ashen face with wide eyes. Sasuke could have wondered how in the world she has managed to detect that miniscule alteration in his demeanor. Except that he knows she has this crazy range with her Byakugan, even when deactivated.

And even without that, she could always read him.

"He's dead." He mutters in answer shortly. He hears Hinata gasp from beside him, the shock later dispelled by her tightening her grip into him as she sobs in what he can only tell as agony and sympathy. This time when she tells him she is sorry, he doesn't brush it off as a compulsive condolence. Because, in fact she is the only person who can sympathize with him now. She lost a once-hated brother too. And she too, in a way is deemed responsible for it. Funny how in their lives, they are never so different from each other. There is always something they would agree about.

He kisses her tears away. She relaxes for a second before his next words turn her already chilled spine up a notch colder. "I killed him."

Sasuke remembers that day well. Him sitting by Itachi's bedside. His aniki struggling to breathe amidst violent coughs of blood. His aniki dying. The doctors told him that with his chakra drained and lungs damaged after that disastrous mission against the Akatsuki, the prided Uchiha heir and prodigy is getting progressively weaker. Fugaku had been disappointed and had he been a child wanting of praise, Sasuke would have selfishly reveled at the attention he was thereby getting as the suitable replacement. Today as the man that he had become, he was anything but the child that used to blindly think he should be superior in more superficial things than his brother. In fact, Sasuke thought Itachi was still scarily strong like he was always being complimented to be and that ironically, it was also that so-called power he had as a clan heir that slowly killed him.

Itachi had smiled with brotherly pride when his otouto told him that on his face.

This was when he told him how to acquire the Uchiha's most guarded secret: the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"I got it when Shisui died." He explained in between his fitful coughing, hands fisting by his sides. His eyes were shut tight in pain and yet even the closed off orbs didn't succeed on suppressing the oozing blood from the sockets. "That was because I couldn't stop him and I blamed myself afterward."

_It felt like killing him myself._

"Hatred to oneself…" His older brother reiterates with as much strength as he could muster in order to further his conviction. But then, even with a wheezing voice and barely comprehensible deathbed lingo, Sasuke was still rapt on undivided attention nevertheless. There was once a time he did hang for every word that came from Itachi's mouth, repeating each word of wisdom like a mantra. He was long since over that phase by then but like particular things that never changes even with the treacherous passage of time, Itachi's words were always ones worth listening too. "Hating yourself… is the first step of activating the Sharingan's full capabilities. Letting Shisui die made me hate myself so hard it opened a gate or two in my eyes. Literally. The Mangekyou Sharingan is a very powerful tool but it also renders much to be sacrificed in exchange for such advantage. It makes one lose your humanity as well when after the equal trade between the Shinigami himself for the eyes, one suddenly finds himself imagining him to be above others for the power he has been granted.

"Such is the Uchiha's Curse of Hatred Sasuke; the exact love for power and strength that almost caused our extinction during the Izanagi period. Clan members killed each other for it. Bonds were made only to be severed. Fate was constantly dared as the devil would himself. I used to carry that hatred too… Sasuke… I hated myself. The clan. Shisui at times too. You may have noticed it yourself: how I had changed for the worst as I became more focused on being a tool for the shinobi world whose cruelty awarded me with nearly limitless power. I had been a tool back then... manipulated… used… forged…"

_But that was until you showed me the light._

"I saw the love in your eyes when you thought she had died Sasuke." He resumed in much quieter tone, giving his brother a look of approval, the smile he had always yearned for since he was a child dying for a shurinkenjutsu session with his amazing nii-san. "And maybe that's the turning point for me to change some things I had always deemed as the truth of my existence. You activated your sharingan through love. Not hate. I think the simplicity of blurring those lines is actually what makes it all the more inspiring to me. That was when I was really proud of my otouto. I was happy…" a disconcertingly happy smile with curved eyes flits prominently to his usually expressionless face. _Niisan…_"…that you would grow up to be much stronger than me."

Sasuke's eyes were closed in rumination, afraid to take it all in. "But I hate the shinobi world. Shouldn't that count?"

"You don't hate the shinobi world, foolish otouto." He replied curtly, like it was only pure instinct for his part. Like he knew it all along. "You wouldn't have met Hinata-san otherwise. No, you only want to change it."

He was speechless.

"Kill me Sasuke." His older brother breaks the ice with such a regretful voice, sorry that it had to end like this. Imparting through his last breath that no matter what happens, he would always love him. "Kill me for these eyes. Kill me if you loved me as well. Kill me as a promise that with these eyes like mine…" he pauses, letting his last will sink in through his otouto's running mind. "… you will change the shinobi world someday the way I never could."

Performing euthanasia to him was no easy matter.

Sasuke cried for days after that. And his eyes started to bleed into the reddest it could ever be. He knew exactly what it was. The Mangekyou.

So much power. For so much a cost.

Itachi was always the stronger one. And yet he was the one who was dead.

"Neji-niisan killed himself in front of me." Hinata's words knock him out off his retrospective reverie forcefully, her phrasing one that resembles someone who divulges important information in such a casual way it sounds more like she is sharing it among lighthearted friends. Sasuke wonders yet again whether without really any explanation from his part, she still understands him as she did when they were both just isolated children from noble clans. "He did it… after I told him I don't see the point of reviving the clan with him."

Wow… he doesn't expect that… to come out as rather comical. "Huh?"

She looks at him weirdly, brows twitching in slight annoyance. Definitely not the demure protesting snort he used to hear when she had had enough of being the expense of a good laugh. "He's not the perfect tragic-comedy lover if you are thinking that."

He kisses her to calm her down. She sighs. Wearily.

"I have been with him for three years. In the Akatsuki. At first he has me forced into fighting him. I did try and you know what the outcome would be if I be faced with a superior Jyuuken user. Nii-san is strong but not as immensely potent as they make him out to be that I instantly find myself wondering whether he really did annihilate our clan singlehandedly when he was only thirteen. I mean, my father himself had been labeled as a genius to the clan style and the Organization nii-san joined in Konoha was… is known for maintaining its lackey's ninken still. So maybe they couldn't have taught Nii-san an unorthodox, unheard of fighting style, at least without altogether affecting his expertise in Jyuuken. Of course, they could have always taught him how to set off the Branch House juinjutsu, which I see no other reason for them to know how to than for their questionable use later. The fact that Neji-niisan himself no longer has the caged bird seal testifies as much to that supposition. Who removed it? The answer is obvious. And it now makes sense why it is never made public as to how most of the Hyuugas have been killed through the green linings in their forehead. I had my Byakugan on that night. Even I could see that. And yet there is still the question: who activated it?

"In the Hyuuga clan, there are only two people who can activate that juinjutsu to such a wide extent and power to be able to easily kill the bearer. The seals in our wrists have made sure of that so no one will ever be able to copy the hand sign as easily as they outsiders would have thought. And besides it is the less governing seal protecting our own Byakugan. As unbelievable as it is, my ancestors are not really that close minded to depend entirely for our own welfare on the hostile Branch House. So they made the seal a secret. The strongest variation of that seal is only passed along to the generation's clan heir. At the time, there are only two who bears that: my father who is clan head and me, the clan heir… should I have been old enough to use it… "

She pauses, breathing audibly in erratic sighs. Sasuke takes this all in with gusto, eyes wide in shock. Fists clenched in unrestrained anger to everything that allowed this to happen. "So assuming this… the only one who could have done it…" He waits for her for supplication. She fails to speak. So much for the drama and relief of her acknowledging the truth herself.. "… was your father."

Tense silence.

"Neji-niisan, to my surprise was the one who nursed me back to health after the fight." She plows on instead, unconsciously drawing distance from him, as if realizing what they had just done and that they were very naked. Sasuke lets her. She probably needs the space anyway. "He told me later that he just felt responsible, as my protector to not be reckless and leave me in an inn where any Konoha nin can walk in and take me in as a nukenin to be prosecuted back home. That was when we got into talking. He was really not that bad. I finally managed to convert him into my cause… against fate and destiny. He told me the truth about the massacre and the reason why I alone, was spared. I shared to him my grievances against Konoha and was not really surprised to find out that he had a lot as well, to the shinobi world in general. We stuck together for three years after that. He trained me. I am Hyuuga in dire need of tutelage under another after all. It wasn't long after he confided to me about the inner workings in the Akatsuki and I was inclined to join them, as albeit merely a dispensable asset. I met Pain-sama, listened to the ideals I don't necessarily agree with and began to work for him just before Naruto-kun defeated him." She pauses, looking at him in askance. "I believe he had been reformed as well since Konan-sama came to talk to us about the dangers of joining forces with Tobi…"

"Yeah," agrees Sasuke. On both sides. Pain was defeated through negotiations, something he could easily give Naruto the credit for. The ever-mysterious Tobi, on the other hand is the person Itachi failed to kill, even with his Mangekyou Sharingan. The revelation that Hinata almost associated with the man scares him. The thought of him still at large…

"But that was beside the point…" she murmurs in continuation, obviously uninterested with these complications. Sasuke knew she could care less if the shinobi world goes for another war again. "Neji-nii and I went into exile in the past few months. I think if I remember correctly, that was when he told me that he has already fallen for me."

"And did you? Fall for him too?" He didn't mean it but the apprehension is clear in his voice. The back of his mind whispers smugly.. that he was her first though… that she has given herself completely only to him…

But Neji, it seems has done more for her than he could ever hope to do. Starting, when he was only a fucking four-year old, promising his father he would protect his Lady always.

She laughs, much to his astonishment. The sound rings amidst the cave, each echoes sounding hollower and forced than the last. "He's my niisan. I told him as much."

"But with him is the only chance you can ever restore your clan right?" Sasuke doesn't know much about the principles of genetics but he can tell enough.

"I don't want to restore the clan." She answers right away. She would have shrugged if she is not sprawled on her back or were his arms not snaking its way up to drape themselves over her once again. "To be honest, I prefer for my children to not carry the strain of the Byakugan. A lot of good that eye did me. And my kinsmen."

She tells him the truth, right there and then about the Hyuuga massacre.

While it was true that it was, in reality her own father who had disabled the entirety of the Branch House using his juinjutsu and thus effectively executing what might be otherwise an impossible feat: (something she was already certain of judging from what she herself saw of her clansmen corpses first hand—) Hinata was still struck numb by the truth Neji had shed for her In her insistence of understanding him better. "The Hyuuga clan had always been a submissive character, being the oldest noble clan in Konoha that goes farther than the Shodaime himself." He had explained to her what she already knew: the fact that her family has been milder and more accepting of authority than their rival the Uchiha are. "But apparently they have their limits. And it is only a matter of time before they finally see that steaming off into anarchy might be for the best. It started when Danzo took me away to be of the ROOT faction, as is mandatory from every clan which practices kinjutsu and holds a valuable kekkei genkai. Your late father never had a say against it—the recruitment that he deemed was slavery in itself and a failure for the promise he had made to his younger brother… my father. But then what could he do? Even the Sandaime himself had no say or nay with Danzo's law. That idea alone begs the question: who in fact is the one who rules Konoha? You could imagine Hiashi-sama's turmoil about that. He, the clan head who had willingly submitted to the power of his Hokage, only to find out that the man he honored, respected and even idolized at one point was a fraud puppet with triggers pulled by a man who made it his advantage to manipulate children into inhumanity. Were we all but tools to a higher kind then? He asked himself. He wouldn't have minded the thought of being just manipulated as he did it himself with the family he only considered his subordinates. But there was his brother… my father… who had gone far enough to die in his steed. Not to mention the promise that kept haunting him until his last days of awareness had woken him up of otherwise. I think, you can say that finally he no longer is as blind to everything sugarcoated as he used to be."

"He sought deep for an investigation." Hinata continues with a soft, reminiscing voice that only amounted to be more disconcerting than it already is, as the dénouement thickens into a sensible plot that reminds him of reading a cheap mystery novel you have an idea how will conclude but is surprised by the outcome nevertheless. "He was on a tracking team once like me too. And his skills for reconnaissance are quite sharp. Not much was known about Shimura Danzo except that he was a student of the Nidaime, a First World War veteran and was also rendered halfway crippled with a supposedly damaged eye underneath the bandages some time in the third. He led the ANBU and is one of the elder council himself. His nature transformation is wind-based and he can summon large elephants in collaboration for such attacks."

"Sounds totally unspecial for me." Sasuke blurts out in her rather unnecessary description of the man's battle prowess. Hinata glares defiantly, annoyed at the interruption. Cute. He kisses her.

She sighs. "Maybe. But Father has the best Byakugan for generations and he can see through all disguise genjutsu. It was an easy matter for him to determine that what lurks behind Danzo's brand of physical disability is not as innocent as one can immediately assume."

Neji's words: _For in the place where his injured right eye is supposed to be, is a much feared weapon of war that only a few Uchihas are recorded to ever use. _

The Mangekyou Sharingan.

Uchiha Shisui's of the Mirage to be exact.

The strongest genjutsu user the clan has ever seen that is known to be able to put even the most headstrong man into his absolute command. The one who killed himself in the Nakano River because he thought it was all too much living in this cruel world. The one who left his will alive in his right eye that he put into his best friend's care, in hopes that Itachi will be able to do him the favor of living the way he couldn't.

But Itachi himself had died on the mission when he saw no chance to in his lifetime and along with the presumably powerful crow with the formidable Sharingan eye, he had entrusted the rest of cultivating Shisui and his hate to the shinobi world through Sasuke's love.

"Koto Amatsukumi." He breathes out harshly, voice still disbelieving. How could this be? What kind of world do they live in for these things to happen to the least likely people? The Hyuuga could have changed. The Uchiha could have followed. And yet, there exists Danzo. That alone made all the fucking difference.

"The power of absolute command." She affirms, sounding unsurprised by his knowledgeable drone. This time, she is the one who kisses him back into tranquility. "Danzo casted it on Father to change his cause and on the way killed all the Hyuuga to ensure his seat was on safety. He never thought much of the clan to begin with and the fact that it was losing its old blinded, ignorant obedience to the Head Honchos that was the only thing that made us useful to him in the first place, had only further sealed my family's fate. Ordering my father through genjutsu to use the juinjutsu was only a matter of speech. Killing the remaining members had been easier even. But brainwashing Neji enough that he would agree to be framed of this atrocity proved to be a challenge. In the end, I was the ace in the hole. And he left as a criminal, feeling relieved that I at least was safe."

For his taking later on, Sasuke groans to himself with still the unabated derision of a jealous rival. _Neji-niisan was in love with me…_

"He had hopes of reviving the clan with me." She elaborates as if she can hear him snort. Maybe he did. He can't really tell from Hinata's nonchalant façade. "But when I told him I don't want to, he understood. He himself was cursed with it. Being a Hyuuga. Having the Byakugan. Being a shinobi. Before he left, Danzo had given him a new cursed seal that was supposed to stop him from telling me the truth. It didn't although it certainly as burning more than the one he used to have from my third birthday's courtesy. But it did make his days all the more counted. For his own judgment, Nii-san has resolved to die for me then…"

… _to protect me against Tobi, is basically his idea of committing an honorable seppuku. _

Silence.

"He was only thirteen." Sasuke ends for her. Conveniently. "Fucking thirteen and he already began to live like that."

"I know." Sasuke tries not to interpret too much from her wistful, regretful tone as she closes her eyes in remembrance. From that affectionate address that would have screamed incest had Sasuke had been more paranoid of his lost chance in love, the distance between them subconsciously grows. And his heart tugs painfully at how Neji is a lot better than he could ever hope to be just when he thought Itachi had been his biggest rival.

But the reassuring squeeze that breaks his self-deprecating senses tells him of another side, reminding that it is him with Hinata now and while he and Neji may be of the same coin for loving the same woman in the worst time and universe they could ever have, the two of them are still of differing sides. But equally exposed in varying situations nevertheless. He vaguely hears her words: _I kind of hate him for leaving me just like that. So I guess I can live with that memory to shove in his stoic face during the afterlife. _

She then stares up at him with wide, earnest, expectant eyes. "But until then, I still have something worth to live for."

_Want to wait with me until the shinobi world ends, Sasuke-kun?_

This is when he takes her hand with a promise that he will and together, they will make it happen as soon as possible.

Itachi was but twenty-three when he fell down a sick, broken man of no accomplished goals to eradicate those he hated, to his own deathbed.

But Sasuke is only eighteen when he started to live like his aniki has always wanted him to.

Through love, they will destroy hate. And like an omen that is sealing itself a better deal as they walk together hand in hand in the direction that would take them away for the moment, the sun rises anew to the still very-much cruel shinobi world. And they have hope.

**(END)**

**Yay! Finally ended that. That had been unexpectedly long. Lol. But I want to resolve some of those issues as much as I can. :D**

**Please review.**


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